Hi Do you have any table runner patterns with chickens - as my sister has her kitchen decorated with chicken things and I thought I might try and do a table runner with some on

my mom kept chickens until about1 1/2 years ago. the grankids named them BUT ultimately they were farm animals.she & my sister had 2 white geese, RICKY & LUCY,, that NEVER going to be asked to the table.they were bought endive in the winter (pampered).judged our quilt club quilts, hung on the 6ft chain link fence around the chicken coop. alas, they are both dead, killed by dogs allowed to run loose!

I have a bunch of chickens, ducks, and geese. Right now I have two ducklings that a banty hen hatched out yesterday and the day before. Easy to raise in house cause they atomatically eat and drink on they're own! We keep them penned because a neighbors dog killed all of our original fancy chickens that were given to us years ago. For the most part all of them have been hatched in incubators in the house. All of the ducks and geese were hatched by us or one little banty hen. This winter we had foxes dig under the pen and killed the 4 biggest hens, one little rooster and 5 of the youngest ducks. Broke our hearts. All of them are pets and most of the chickens are pretty old. We do get some little eggs now but if the little hen decides to set we let her. Get enough eggs for our use anyway. Most of the chicken eggs are infertile cause of the age of the hens but the one sure likes to hatch out those ducklings.LOL They are fun to watch and are great disposals for table scraps. Chickens will eat ANYTHING! And no we don't eat our own birds. That's what the store is for. LOL

I grew up on a fram and it was my job to take care of the chickens. I hated that. To this day, the only good chicken is cooked!!!!!

We had one chicken and one rooster at my Montessori. Neighbors complained so the rooster vamoosed. The chicken was a great pet and never got eaten by a predator. Always expected it but got lucky.

I love having chickens. we have quite a few.. I'm guessing 60-70 now. the pullets (young ones) gave us their first egg today.. its little and cute.. would take about 6 of them to have something worth scrambling..lol. when they get to a certain age, we have some butchered for the freezer and then the rest gives us eggs. my kids eat a lot of eggs. the whole family loves them and I love waking in the morning to my rooster crowing. its a great way to raise kids.. out on a little farm... chickens, big garden. with 9 of 11 kids still at home I have to do the garden. canning and freezing.. I think I'd still do it even if it was just hubby and I.

Loris,
I do not have a pattern, but I have searched online for chicken patterns just to see what was out there and there are a lot of them!

Loris, welcome. Have fun with your chickens. Depending on the breed you have, they should start laying between 12 -15 weeks of age. If they don't, don't fret. Some chickens are a bit slow at first or depending on time of year. Most chickens will slow production during winter or hot weather. Sometimes during hot weather you will think they are not producing, but if they are free-range, they are probably laying them in the woods or barn where it is cooler.

As far as waiting to boli the eggs until they are a couple of weeks old, I have never heard that from anyone and I have even used them just out of the hen house and still warm. I use cold water, heat to boil, add eggs carefully, cover, boil a good 5-7 minutes (longer in higher altitude), turn off the heat, pour off the water, run cold water on the eggs until eggs are cooled (no heat felt through shell), and immediately I gently start to roll on counter or tap on the sink divider to crack open and peel. Slice in half, remove yolk to a bowl, add ingredients for deviled egg, and fill white egg halfs with mix. I usually use my Pampered Chef Easy Accent Decorator to fill with a pretty design. Alway's a big hit at home and church dinners. Yum, and no yellow coloring is needed cuz they are so yellow already.

Have fun with your girls.

I have 30 golden comets. They are a calm bird and large to extra large eggs. I sell the extra eggs. I've had white leghorns but they were too high strung for me. No rooster any more, I like listening to the hens in the early morning.

Ok, now I'm wondering...

... so the rooster is not necessary to get eggs (unless you want more chicks)...

... where do all the roosters go? KFC?

We used to have over 60, but now have only about 2 dozen layers. We occasionally raise meat chickens that dress out at around 9 pounds. We raise turkeys that dress out over 40 pounds - out largest dressed at 48-1/2 pounds last year. That's what went into the oven! It barely fit, but oh my, was it wonderful!

No but did go to a farm with the boys when they were younger and saw turkeys.

That's horrible to even think!! :cry: :cry: :cry:
Makes me very sad.... :cry: :cry:

Yes, I know... but... well, people keep chickens for the eggs, and roosters don't give eggs. I'm just guessing, but would about half of the eggs in the world hatch into boy chicks? So... do they get set apart from the girl chicks, and live out their days destined to be meat chickens?

Doesn't it work that way for calves, too? You can't get milk from a bull...

well actually you can.....my grandparents used to live trap them and pen them up for a week or two to get the "wild" taste out of them. Me...I've just built a pen they can't get into.